How to sell me a comic book

Has anyone ever done a study of comic readership? You know, something that tells you what percentage of comic readers are male or female, how many fall into what age ranges, the usual demographic stuff?

Even without that, I suppose it goes without saying that the girls and I are not the primary market for comic publishers. They're actual kids, and I'm a 45-year-old woman. Of course I'm also a comic fan of 30-something years standing, something that I'm guessing isn't as unusual as it used to be. That's a lot of my cash that's gone to them over the years, and I don't regret a penny of it. (Well, maybe all that X-Factor back in the '90s...) On the whole I'm not a great customer in terms of spending big bucks, but I'm a steady customer.

I do know enough about marketing to know that, a lot of the time, companies are thinking less about maintaining their current customer base than about adding to it, whether by adding new customers or by convincing existing customers to buy more of their product. Keeping me buying comics does not seem to be a problem. Getting me to buy additional comics might be, but it doesn't have to be.

Luckily, I do have fairly mainstream taste in comics, so in theory it shouldn't be too hard to appeal to me as a reader.

I like superhero books.* Marvel and DC. I rarely, rarely go beyond that limited area, and I really only get into certain titles within each publisher's catalog. That's a limitation.

I'm more likely to add to my list than to take something off, but I do tend to buy about the same number of comics every month and if I am going to remove a title there's definitely a last in, first out thing going on there. That's another limitation.

While I tend to buy the same things (limited comic budget and all that--something new that I'm not sure I'll like might mean cutting something old that I do know I like), I do occasionally add something new to my list. How does this happen?

I don't follow writers or artists. Brubaker's Captain America is my favorite title by far, but my enjoyment of it has not inspired me to pick up Daredevil, or Criminal, or any of his other undoubtedly-excellent works. There are writers and artists I particularly like--ones I'm pleased to see join the creative staff of a book I read, or disappointed to see go--but I don't seem to pick up new books based solely on the creators. (Although I'll probably be adding Wonder Woman back to the list when Gail Simone takes over, and I'm considering adding Supergirl back at some point when it's more actual-girl-friendly, but both of these are titles of interest to the twelve-year-old more than to me.) And I'm definitely not drawn by big-name creators--as far as I can tell it's pretty hit-or-miss whether someone who's good at writing novels or television scripts will also be good at writing comics.

I usually don't follow crossover storylines. (Not anymore. Got burnt out on that, oh, fifteen years back after one of the massive X-title crossovers. In fact, when I restarted my comic hobby, I didn't add any X-books to my list. I've got a long memory for some things.) I remember reading a post a little while back in someone's blog--sorry I don't recall which one--where the writer expressed surprise that someone might not make a point of buying both the Justice League and Justice Society issues of the recent crossover. Well, I'm not. (Both not surprised and not buying both sides. I dropped Justice League a few months ago and haven't re-added it so far.) Partly it's the comics-by-mail thing, I order ahead of time, no local comic shop and so forth, and don't necessarily read the solicitations in great detail. But mainly I like the Justice Society and I don't care for the Justice League at this point. (Granted that if I'd known that The Real Legion of Superheroes would be guesting, I'd probably have ordered the League books as well...but I didn't, so I didn't.) So if there's a major event including crossovers, I just buy what I usually buy without regard for other books included in the storyline. (If it turns out to be a good story, I can always fill in the gaps later if I like. I generally don't.) World War Hulk? Only where it appears in my regular reads. Because I'm not a Hulk reader. Now, I will sometimes buy event-specific titles if I'm interested in the goings-on, but I won't buy additional side titles just because there happens to be crossover content. (For example, I bought a number of the Civil War books, but didn't buy any Spider-Man because I just don't buy Spider-Man.) Civil War interested me. World War Hulk doesn't, perhaps because of its focus on a character I've never had much fondness for.

Yeah, I sometimes follow events. But I've addressed that elsewhere.

I do follow characters. That just means that I like Ms. Marvel, so I buy Ms. Marvel. (Just as an example. Not sure that "like" is the right word there at the moment.). I don't go out of my way to buy guest appearances, as a rule. Ms. Marvel guests in Heroes for Hire? Not buying Heroes for Hire. (I will occasionally make an exception for characters who aren't appearing regularly in their own books, such as the aforementioned old Legion of Superheroes. And I'll often give a book a look if, say, the Black Knight or other rarely-seen old favorite is in it, but it's not an automatic buy.) It's not strictly a nostalgia thing, although certainly characters I grew up with are most likely to be followed--but I also tend to pick up books featuring Green Lantern Kyle Rayner (Ion? :P) and I'd never heard of him two years ago. It's also likely that I'll pick up any future appearances of Ryan Choi (seeing that I have no faith that he'll stick around in an Atom title).

I do follow titles. This means that I buy Fantastic Four because I started buying it when I was just a kid. Thirty years ago.) :) It's partly a matter of habit; if I've "always" purchased a book, I'm likely to keep getting it. Thus my tendency to buy just about anything with the word "Avengers" in the title--it was my favorite book as a teenager and that's a lot of nostalgia. I will occasionally stop buying a book--I dropped the current run of Legion of Superheroes some time ago--but it takes either a long-term drop in quality, a significant change in the book that isn't to my taste, or possibly a bad association of some sort (which was the reason I never picked up the X-books again, despite having read and enjoyed them for years and years). That doesn't mean I can't be convinced to buy more books, but I'm more likely to do so if the newly-offered titles are connected somehow to the titles I already buy. For example, Green Lantern Corps--got it because I enjoy the Green Lantern section of DC's universe, and it turned out to be a favorite (I'm far more likely to drop the main GL title at this point).

I don't, as a rule, buy alternate-universe or potential-future tales. If it doesn't take place in the regular 616 Marvel universe (or whatever turns out to be the primary DC universe after Countdown's done), I probably don't want it. (I did buy The Ultimates, but I've never read any of the other Ultimate-universe titles. The twelve-year-old likes Ultimate X-Men but not enough to buy, she picks up the trades at her school library.) I can't really explain this one but it's a pretty consistent preference.

So to some extent I'm a bit set in my ways, don't necessarily like a lot of change, and really prefer it if comic deaths are exceptional. I don't mind things being shaken up once in a while, but if the change is too great I won't be happy. (Because I read comics based primarily on the characters, and if the characters aren't there that takes away quite a bit of my incentive to keep reading. Captain America is an exception, but the writer made a point of establishing a good supporting cast capable of maintaining the book before eliminating the title character.) I like what I like, and while I don't dislike the rest, I don't seek it out either.

But! I do, sometimes, buy something entirely new on the recommendation of others. It's the internet's fault that I buy any DC books at all, and that all started with some folks' enthusiastic discussion of Green Lantern. Official company sites don't convince me of these things--other comic readers do. If I hear a lot of positive about something new, especially from people whose taste includes books I already like, or whose commentary is intelligent and well-reasoned (i.e. not "Brian Bendis is God, you should totally read this book by Brian Bendis"--actually that's not a great example, I tend to quite like Bendis' writing and generally consider him a plus on a book I read--but you see what I mean) I might try it out.

But on the whole, I'm pretty easy to please. On the whole I'm happy with my comics.** And although there's a limit on what I'm willing to spend, I'm open to trying new things.

Ah, but the kids!

The twelve-year-old would happily buy a foot-high stack of comics every month. (Hell, so would I. Not an option.) She'll try just about any comic featuring female characters, and any comic featuring kids. She likes Teen Titans (which we get in trade, she doesn't mind the wait), loves Birds of Prey. She seems to be tiring of New X-Men and we may be replacing it with Runaways. Right now her favorite is Avengers: Initiative, which features younger characters as well.

The eight-year-old? Scooby Doo is still the favorite, but she also likes her Marvel Adventures Avengers and she probably actually looks at more of the monthly stack than her sister--she asks about Captain America if there isn't one, which impresses me every time she does it because it's really not a kid-focused book. (The twelve-year-old won't touch it, she doesn't like that it's visually a darker book with no bright colors.)

They both like humor, so if a character or book tends to be funny, that's a plus. Deadpool, for example, is a favorite of both girls. (This is partially due to Marvel Ultimate Alliance, where Deadpool is great fun to play.) The twelve-year-old, asked her favorite characters, mentioned She-Hulk and Hawkeye (Clint Barton), both of whom tend to quip a great deal.

They don't seem to care a lot about continuity; although both like picking out errors when they see them, it's not something they mind.

They do care about clear writing. Continuing storylines are fine, but they like to be able to tell what's going on. Even if they were allowed to read Moon Knight, they wouldn't like it because it can be a little confusing.

They prefer Frank Cho to Leinil Yu (although the eight-year-old says that Cho draws people's butts too big) despite liking the New Avengers more as characters. They prefer clean-lined art, bright, distinct colors, easily-identifiable characters. The twelve-year-old (who just came into the room) says that she wouldn't expect to like Cable and Deadpool based on the cover art, but that the inside is different (and good) so you have to look at both. She really does make some comic choices based on cover art. The eight-year-old likes Steve Epting's realistic style, the twelve-year-old does not. They're both fine with "cartoony" art as long as you can tell what you're looking at, although the twelve-year-old doesn't care for the art in DC's kid titles (the ones based on their cartoons).

The kids would be, I think, far better customers than I am. Too bad I'm the one with the money. :)

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* I do understand that the comic book format can be used, and used well, to tell stories other than superhero tales. And I like non-superhero stories--I just tend to seek them out in other media.

** Which means I'm also not bothered so much by some of the things that bother other folks. Not by cover images--never felt inclined to not buy a book I otherwise enjoy because of a bad cover. Not by costumes--honestly, I probably wouldn't notice the running in 5-inch heels if no one on the net pointed it out to me. (Doesn't mean I don't find it peculiar when I do notice it. But I internalized those particular aspects of comic book fantasy long ago, and my disbelief is pretty much self-suspending.) As a rule, I don't read comics with a highly critical eye, any more than I analyze the flavor of my triple-chocolate ice cream when I eat it. I'll admit it--when it comes to comics, the initial pleasure does not come from taking things apart. I might give a book a more analytic read later, but when I've got it in my hands for the first time? I read it for fun, and I'm not all that picky.

This isn't to say that those folks who do take notice of these things are wrong. And it's not to say that I don't find their writings revelatory, or that they don't make me think about my own expectations (too low? too dated?) and judgment. I do, and they do. Just that they aren't the things I automatically focus on.